Research areas

Research areas

Migration, Urbanisation and Societal Change

Knowledge about migration and urbanisation is increasingly important in a world characterized by globalisation, in relation to for example economy, labour, segregation and competition between cities.

Migration and urbanisation are both results of and driving forces in on-going societal change. The influence of migration and urbanisation on living conditions today cannot be underestimated. Migration studies looks at movements between and within countries and the new interfaces that arise in relation to more permanent communities, often in urban contexts.

Migration is therefore a prerequisite for urbanisation, which we understand as the emergence of cities as dynamic clusters of buildings, population and material resources. Phenomena like serial and circular migration, ethnic segregation and global competition between cities emphasize the movement and crossover of these change processes. Social transformation in the end involves on the one hand structuring processes that are seemingly difficult to impact - in this case primarily migration and urbanization - and on the other hand, the active pursuit in the policy and planning fields to shape society and the urban.

New media, Public Spheres and Forms of Expression

After half a century, the famous remark by Marshall McLuhan that "the medium is the message" appears more insightful than ever. The significance of media in society is ever increasing, and this holds in particular for new media such as the web, blogs, mobile services, online forums, and virtual worlds. The increase is deeply related to technical developments in the field of information and communication technology.